I’m seeing students who are choosing southern schools for the social scene, warm weather, access to boating and water sports - education doesn’t seem to be at the top of their list. I’m also seeing students, both male and female, who absolutely won’t go to the south because of their laws prohibiting abortion. And I’m seeing highly educated young professionals who are now planning their exit from southern states, because they realize that getting pregnant in a state where abortion is prohibited poses a risk to women’s lives.
But the fact is that for a top student from a family which doesn’t qualify for fin aid, it’s hard to turn down the merit money at a place like Alabama.
NC is pretty good on that. Abortion is legal here. Governor is a Democrat (elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020). We could be better I’m sure, but right now we’re kind of a shining beacon of hope for progressives compared to Virginia and South Carolina.
Attended high school in a middle class suburb in the northeast. Lots of people went south. I always thought it had something to do with the culture (big time sports, perhaps?) or the weather. The merit aid explanation also makes sense to me.
Relative to the Northeast, the South is mostly on the other side of the Eastern time zone. Coupled with the better weather, the extra hour of daylight makes a big difference for leading a more active lifestyle (a big plus for a lot of young people I know).
I live out West. I would say that we are not seeing more super selective Southern school apps & kids matriculating to school like Duke, Vanderbilt, UNC, etc. from our small private school.
We are however seeing an increase in apps & matriculation to schools like SMU, TCU & Baylor.
My DS23 toured these 3 private Texas schools. We asked about the number of Western kids. All 3 schools said they were getting more California, Arizona, Utah & Colorado kids.We asked why?
One admission officer said they thought it was, other than the education of course, the similar warm weather, not too far geographically, and lastly (I think this is it), that they are all medium size private schools.
There are not any medium size private schools in those states, except for USC (hard admit) and BYU (not really mainstream). Kids are looking for fit. Many kids do not want big publics or small LAC’s. These 3 Texas schools also give good merit money.
USC (20k undergraduates) and BYU (30k) are both larger than what most would consider “medium” size. SMU (6k) is about the same size as Stanford, UoP, LMU, SCU, USD, or USF, while Baylor (15k) is considerably larger (TCU (10k) is in between). Of course, Stanford is very reachy, but the other schools (besides USC) mentioned here have religious affiliations, which may affect student (or parent) preferences.
That is exactly my point. There are not many medium size private schools out West.
Stanford is beyond reachy, and yes USC & BYU are larger.
Also, I meant to address the draw of some of the Southern schools is the school spirit and football. LMU, SCU, USD, USF & UoP are not really “rah rah” schools. We are not seeing an increase in apps to those schools. Those have remained about the same, and I would not put them in the same fit category as SMU, even if size is similar.
Covid is also cited as a reason many Western kids are looking to go South.
SC is an extremely popular destination for kids from our school district. Many kids at CoC, U of SC, Clemson and Coastal Carolina. 2nd to our in-state options, it had the highest number of students heading there in my D20’s graduation class.
I know of several families who have either bought second homes or outright moved to SC once their kids went down there for school (we’re in NJ). To me it feels like SC is the new Florida (as far as migratory patterns from the Northeast).
At my private school in Southern California, we’ve always sent kids to Southern Methodist, Rice, Duke, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Emory, William and Mary, and University of Virginia over the years. Not a ton of kids, but we get at least a few kids who go to one or more of these schools a year. Texas Christian has become a bit more popular in recent years. This last year we sent 3 kids there. Eckerd College in Florida has become more popular at our school in terms of kids applying, but only 1 kid has attended.
As for the big Southern sports schools like Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, LSU, Georgia, Florida, UNC-Chapel Hill, UT-Austin…we don’t really send a lot of kids there and we haven’t seen an increase of kids going there. Most of the kids we send to the big Southern publics have been recruited for sports. In the case of one girl, her parents were divorced and her dad lives in Georgia and worked at University of Georgia, so she got a big discount on tuition.
All in all I wouldn’t say we’ve seen an increase of kids GOING to Southern schools, but I do think we’ve seen an increase in kids APPLYING to them. I guess they want to keep their options open. If anything we’ve seen in increase in students applying and attending schools like Colorado State, University Wyoming, University of Montana, University of Idaho, Washington State, Ft. Lewis College, Northern Arizona University, Western State University…
I’d also say we’ve seen more interest in small liberal arts schools in the midwest and midwest publics that aren’t Michigan…
That same scenario happened to a co worker of mine. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay more taxes and live in an expensive area. It’s hard though. There is a town not far from us, that is very expensive to live in with high property taxes, but it has some of the best public schools in the nation and the school district is ranked in the top 10. It’s also one of the highest paying school districts in the country for teachers, but then again, it’s very hard to get hired because their standards are so high. And this school district is great for kids with learning disabilities and special needs. My SIL has a friend from college with an autistic son, who specifically moved to this town so he could be in the school district’s program and he did really well.
I think internet weakened northern hold on college applicants. People found out about good colleges, good weather and good merit in Southren states.
If students decide to stay after graduation, there are more jobs, nice housing and low cost of living.
I see it as a positive, Southren states benefit from liberal mindset influx and liberal kids can move out of their native echo chamber to be more independent and balanced.
However, it is not necessarily true that this is happening or will happen. It is possible that the opposite could happen:
Students heading south for college may be more likely to be already right-leaning politically, in which case the process increases rather than decreases the political sorting of people into right and left leaning regions.
Left-leaning students who do go south for college may develop stronger negative opinions of the region after experiencing living there, particularly if they are LGBTQ+ or visible minorities. (See post #51 of this thread by @warblersrule for example.)
My nephew (Alabama '20) and niece (Alabama '21) went to Alabama from Scottsdale AZ with no nexus. They were attracted by a combination of sports, Greek life, and merit. Merit certainly helped seal the deal but it wasn’t the primary driver. They wanted to go OOS but also wanted a big sports school and Greek life experience. Nephew is now working in Dallas and niece is in Nashville. They had no prior connections to AL, TX, TN.
I have a lively debate going on with my son about applying to Uni of AL. He’s against attending any college in that state due to political beliefs. I am trying to convince him that UAL gives good education (will apply CS), merit (he’s not into Greek Life or sports).
Finally, he agreed to apply and will consider it last resort if he can’t get into his favorite UC/CSUs/Univ of AZ (we are from CA).
Its free app next week and he doesn’t know the college landscape yet. I had a rude awakening after filing FAFSA (looking at my EFC) and spending time here on CC.
Ideals are fine but reality is different. We(parents) did our masters outside US and this is our first interaction with US College admissions. I want him to apply widely and select the best college (Fit/Merit) which accepts him.
My guy wasn’t either, though applied for the $$. Fortunately for mine, another college that he really liked came in less expensive (U Rochester), along with a second one he liked better (Pitt). They were all close enough that he could have gone to any of the three, so he got his favorite and his favorite gave the best package.
I think those who tend to like U Ala like sports, probably not all are sports lovers if that’s their cheapest option, but for those with choices after aid is awarded it’s likely a big draw or big detriment pending their view.
